Fifty years after the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis serves to tell not only King’s story but the story of America — where the country has been and where it is going.

It’s a story in progress — a story that America is still writing.

According to museum officials, the venue aims to focus on stories related to cultural change and to educate the next generation. The museum attracts visitors from a cross-section of marginalized communities, including gay rights groups and labor unions — groups whose members can relate to the struggle for equality.

“The museum includes the story of other groups in its interpretation,” says Dr. Noelle Trent, director of interpretation, collections and education at the museum. “We continue to pursue avenues to tell the story of all people. Civil and human rights affect us all.”

Housed in part within the old Lorraine Motel — the site that bore witness to the assassination of Dr. King on April 4, 1968 — the museum first opened in 1991 and reopened in 2014 following an extensive renovation. The museum illustrates stories and events through artifacts, film and other media. King’s motel room from that fateful day is part of the tour.

“Room 306 impacts our visitors the most,” says Trent. “It is the room where Dr. King spent his final hours. For many visitors, it is the reason they visit the museum.”

Room 306 at the Lorraine Motel — the room where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spent his final hours — is part of the museum tour.(Photo: Courtesy of the National Civil Rights Museum)

The museum traces the history of slavery and shines a light on pivotal events of the civil rights movement — like the 1961 Freedom Rides, during which activists made bus trips throughout the Southern U.S. to protest segregated bus terminals. Other exhibits focus on the lunch counter sit-ins of 1960 and the Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott of the mid-1950s. Visitors can sit on a bus seat next to a likeness Rosa Parks or at a segregated lunch counter.

Trent says visitors are often caught off guard by the emotions they experience during a visit to the museum.

“They frequently encounter aspects of American history they never knew,” Trent says. “Often, our visitors have never seen some of the film footage, like Rev. James Lawson training students for the sit-ins. People are often surprised that the success of the movement was dependent on the work of everyday people that look just like them.”

One museum exhibit focuses on the lunch counter sit-ins of 1960.(Photo: Courtesy of the National Civil Rights Museum)

Learning from the past is an important way to inform the future, and the National Civil Rights Museum is helping to share the story of the civil rights struggle with people of all ages, from all walks of life.

Trent notes that it’s particularly important for young people to hear these stories.

“They draw inspiration from the people of the past,” says Trent. “They respond well when they realize that the activists of the past were 18 to 24 years old.”

Trent believes that exposure to these stories can give birth to conversations — and action.

“Our hope is that visitors are inspired by this history to create change within their own communities,” says Trent. “That stories and lessons learned here are carried with them.”